Public safety agencies responding to an incident (for example a building fire, a criminal pursuit or other law enforcement activity, a natural disaster, a medical incident, and the like) may coordinate response efforts using wireless communication devices. Some wireless communication devices (for example, mobile telephones and two-way radios) include a push-to-talk function, which is used to transmit simplex audio from one communication device to one or more other communication devices (for example, using a talk group) within a public safety communications system. Some public safety communications systems include an ambient monitoring service, which allows an ambient monitoring device to remotely activate the push-to-talk function of a communications device and receive the ambient audio sensed in the vicinity of the communication device. For example, a law enforcement officer may not be able to actively communicate, yet communications from the situation to other public safety personnel may be desirable (for example, a hostage situation). In such case, the other personnel may use the ambient monitoring service to receive and listen to the ambient sounds from the situation, for example, via an ambient monitoring session to a mobile radio.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.